Spring can be a tricky season for kids. Their little engines rev up as the weather warms and summer vacation comes into their sights. Teachers describe the challenge of cramming a little more learning into their charges before the end-of-year field days and talent shows. As this issue of Tumbleweeds went to print, Santa Fe was experiencing the first of this year's "faux springs." Barely a week later, we were buried in snow. Perhaps it’s ironic that standardized testing falls at this time of year. Testing children three-quarters of the way through the school year may make academic sense, but it runs counter to natural rhythms. Warmer days and stronger sunrays entice children to get outside and move, while we are telling them to sharpen their pencils, sit at their desks and fill in the answer bubbles on test forms. Not that timing in the school year is the main reason behind the national groundswell against standardized testing. Parents, teachers and some entire school districts are protesting what they consider an obsession with testing. Whatever useful information these tests offer, their opponents argue, is undermined by the sheer numbers of hours devoted to these tests and the consequence of low scores to individual students, teachers and schools as a whole. The New Mexico Public Education Department requires students in grades three to 11 totake between 6.5 and 10.5 hours of state-mandated standardized tests every year, though many local districts and schools require additional exams. This may not seem like much — and indeed is less than the national average of 15 to 20 hours — but this is a case where numbers don’t tell the whole story. The bigger picture encompasses the time and energy teachers devote to tailoring lessons to skills and material that will be covered on these tests. It includes the disruption to the momentum of learning, not just during testing weeks but subsequent weeks when children are pulled out of class to make up tests administered when they were absent. And it must take into account the emotional cost of test anxiety in children at ever younger and more vulnerable ages, and the loss of classroom opportunities for creativity, self-expression and self-motivation. Over my years as a student, parent and observer, I’ve seen the pendulum swing between educational philosophies that measure classroom success in qualitative terms— by children’s love of learning, curiosity and other “know it when you feel it” criteria — and those that rely on quantitative benchmarks. Both have value, ideally in combination. Since the implementation of “No Child Left Behind,” the pendulum has swung to the quantitative and parked there.New Mexico Opt Out is one of a growing number of national organizations for families choosing to boycott standardized tests. Their website, www.nmoptout.org, contains a test-refusal form, tips for talking with your child’s teacher and principal, links, and strategies for resisting “pushback.” Tumbleweeds is not necessarily advocating for opting out of these tests, which are still required by state law. We believe a better strategy for most families would be to give children strategies for managing tests with a healthy perspective. This approach doesn’t work for all families, however, and it won’t change public policy by itself. Civil disobedience, along with calls and emails to elected officials, may be essential tools for rolling back the excesses of testing and prioritizing other ways of learning. By a combination of planning and serendipity, the theme of alternative ways of learning runs all through articles in this issue of Tumbleweeds. Here’s some of what you’ll find. Preschool teacher Judith Nasse notes that artistic expression evolved long before written language and actually serves as a foundation for literacy. She provides activities based around Earth Day that will encourage children’s creative expression and powers of observation. If you’re not familiar with the Waldorf philosophy, you may never have heard of “eurythmy,” an expressive movement technique that integrates both sides of the brain and develops body awareness to support learning. Patricia Lord, of the Santa Fe Waldorf School, describes this technique and its value to children particularly in these times when they are bombarded by technological stimulation. Santa Fe has a new public secondary school, the Mandela International Magnet School, devoted to teaching peace through intercultural understanding and measuring students’ progress with a nuanced, individualized system, in contrast to the one-size-fits-all mode of standardized testing. Some inspired and inspiring after-school teachers offer spring activities to get kids thinking outside the Scantron circle. Myra Krien, director of Pomegranate Studios Dance School, presents a beautifully simple activity that children can do in the classroom — and you and I can do by our desks — to feel more grounded and engaged in our bodies and senses.Rebecca Morgan, director of Teatro Paraguas Children’s Theatre, offers games and skits, which require just a little more time and space, that develop children’s imagination and confidence before an audience. Sherry Bishop explains why we should leave our keyboards, pick up a pen and develop a more intimate relationship to words and letters. Gloria Fournier Valdez lures us to explore the natural world close to home, with a day trip to the Rio Grande Nature Center and Tingley Beach — and an all-important pizza stop. And Jone Hallmark, our Kids’ Page editor since Tumbleweeds was born, gives steps for making sailboats out of corks and other household items. None of these forms of learning, let it be noted, are particularly “alternative” historically, though they seem more radical these days when it seems nothing is real that can’t be quantified. These suggestions are not just for children. I need to remind myself of points raised in every one of these articles, particularly in the home stretch before publication: Move! Stretch! Get outside! Use your senses! Be creative! Look around!Sooner or later, the pendulum will swing back again from its current emphasis on skills measured in standardized tests. For my money, it’ll be none too soon. In the meantime, you are your child’s best resource for putting testing into healthy perspective. Remind them — and yourself — that standardized tests are just one measure of success. Enthusiasm, creativity, pleasure in reading, and the thrill of learning something new, are just as real as percentile ranking.

I met Charles Maxwell by chance, a couple of years ago at the Tecolote Café. I took a seat at the communal table. Maxwell came in a few minutes later. Two servers greeted him by name before he sat down. A waitress brought him coffee, as he liked it, before he asked for it. He was clearly a "regular." I can still see so vividly his kind smile and his warm, unguarded eyes, so ready to share the morning with a stranger. In no time at all we were in deep conversation. When I told I published a parenting newspaper, he told me some of his involvements with children, not boasting, just sharing. He said he bought some outrageous number of cases (not boxes; cases!) of Girl Scout Cookies every year, to resell or give away, but mostly to support a worthy children’s organization. He had been a Big Brother for many years, and founded an organization for high school athletes, the Charles “Cocoa” Maxwell Jr. Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Charles “Cocoa” Maxwell Jr.

Maxwell explained, with evident love and pride, that his son, a high school football star, committed suicide not long after graduating high school in 1989. To honor his son’s memory, Maxwell created a scholarship fund for other high school athletes.

For 25 years, the Maxwell Scholarship Fund has awarded grants to athletic high school seniors to allow them to pursue their education.Qualifications are beautifully straightforward: the student must simply be a senior graduating from any Santa Fe high school, particularly “those who are often overlooked or over-shadowed, yet who always make an effort” — not necessarily the school’s top student or top athlete, but “the one who gives 100 percent,” a quality for which Cocoa was dearly remembered.

Best of all, the grant is a true gift, with no expectations of the recipients other than that they continue their education. They aren’t required to continue their sport after high school graduation. They may go to any academic institution they choose and study what they wish. Awards of up to $2400, in annual payments of $600, are paid directly to the academic institution, which may be a trade school, technical institute, college or university.

To gather information for a newsbrief announcing the next application deadline, Maxwell referred me to Dr. Bobby Perea, a local chiropractor and past recipient of a Maxwell scholarship. Perea received two college football scholarships after graduating from Santa Fe High School in 1992, but he realized that playing college ball would get in the way of pursuing his real interest: medicine. A $600-a-year grant may not seem like a lot, but the Maxwell Scholarship allowed Perea to get his pre-med degree at UNM and then go to Dallas for his doctorate.

“It was huge, huge,” Perea said of the impact of the Charles Maxwell Scholarship. “It gave me a wind beneath my wings. I was able to go to college and not have to worry about playing football.” Dr. Perea was voted Best Chiropractor in the Santa Fe Reporter’s 2013 Best of Santa Fe poll.

Maxwell died last week, on February 13. The death notice notes “an apparent heart attack,” poignant considering how much his heart bore and how much it gave. His family asks that those who wish to honor Maxwell make a donation to the First Tee of Santa Fe, Santa Fe Special Olympics, Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern New Mexico, or children’s charity you choose.

The Charles Maxwell Jr. Memorial Scholarship Fund will be taking applications again this year, with a 500-word personal statement and three letters of recommendation, due by April 15. Four athletes will be selected, two boys (in football or track) and two girls (in track). Learn more about the fund at http://cocoamaxwell.org/.

This year’s 22nd Annual Golf Tournament to raise funds for the scholarship will be held June 29 at a location to be determined. If you’d like to participate by playing golf, sponsoring a hole, making a donation or sponsoring a high school player, call (505) 471-8009.

Mr. Maxwell, I’ll have a cup of coffee for you at the new Tecolote when it reopens on St. Michael’s Drive. I’ll ask them how you liked it, and I’m sure someone will remember.

Pi (the Greek letter “π”) is a mathematical constant -- the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter -- commonly approximated at 3.1415. Since Pi is found in so many equations in math, physics and other sciences, it is considered one of the most important mathematical constants and has earned itself a holiday: Pi Day.Pi Day is celebrated around the world on March 14 (3/14) -- which also happens to be Einstein's birthday. Communities, schools and universities observe Pi Day by eating pies, throwing pies, and holding contests to see who can recite pi to the highest number of decimal places. In 2009, the US House of Representatives passed a nonbinding House resolution recognizing March 14 as National Pi Day, celebrating the role of mathematics, and that specific number, in our lives. This year's Pi Day has even more significance, because the date, 3/14/15, corresponds to even more digits of the special number.Mathematicians consider Pi an irrational, transcendental number, meaning that it continues to infinity without repetition or pattern. Capital High School commemorates Pi Day with "the epic mathematical race of the century": the Pi Day Fun Run / Pi Day 5K, on March 14, 2015. The race will begin at 9:26:53 a.m. (See the pi pie, for the significance of those numbers.)

Participants may enter either the one-mile fun run or the 3.14-mile (5 km) race. The race starts on Capital High School’s track and continues on the trail behind the campus. The 5K course will then continue on the trail behind the campus. A medal ceremony and refreshments will follow.

Proceeds from the run will benefit the Capital High School Math Department. To register, please go to www.capitalhighschool.info and click on “Pi Day Fun Run.” All participants who register before March 4 will receive a t-shirt.

For more information, contact Angelica Vialpando at avialpando@sfps.info.